A Reason for Living
by Little Miss Lovejoy
Summary: Ms. Frizzle is hired as Springfield Elementary's new third grade teacher. Magic school bus and all, she seems to impress a certain man more than her students.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: One might think, "What a weird thing to crossover" and so did I at first. It was originally just a silly fic, but it turned into so much more in just a weeks' time. It is not based off any certain episodes or time lines so if it contradicts, so be it. Enjoy~_

* * *

"Well, Liz. How do I look?" The frizzy haired school teacher looked to her lizard friend with a little smile, after taking one last look at her appearance in her full length mirror.

The lizard shook her head.

The teacher sighed. "I know. It's not 'me', is it?" she frowned, looking back into the mirror again. She was wearing a plain purple blouse and black pencil skirt—far from her usual. She was starting a new teaching job at Springfield Elementary School that day, and she could not risk wearing her usual outrageous clothing until she had a feel for the atmosphere. She did not want to get fired on her first day. "Oh, I know, Liz," the woman stroked the lizard's head. "I'll be back to myself soon. Don't you worry. I'm sure the other teachers will be very nice and accepting. I bet the students will be great fun, too!"

Liz smiled a little, but cocked her head to the side, seeing the teacher get a nostalgic look on her face. Indeed, she missed her old students, but that is why she had to get away. She needed to start anew with different students and a different school altogether. The lizard jumped onto Ms. Frizzle's shoulder and kissed her cheek, making the woman snap out of her trance and giggle. "Thank you, Liz." She glanced at the clock. "Well, I better go. I'll be late for my first day of work! Will you be alright here by yourself?" She couldn't possibly take the lizard to school—not on the first day. That would be highly unusual to her new co-workers and students.

Liz saluted the woman, as if to say she would be just fine.

"Well, alright. I will be back here right after school, I promise," she waved to the lizard before heading towards the door. She stopped and turned back. "Please don't eat too much sugar while I'm out. You know what happens when you do that."

Liz smiled sheepishly. She could get pretty hyper when she ate sugar. She waved a hand as if to dismiss the thought. The teacher shook her head with a smile and then was off to work.

.

Ms. Frizzle's first day of teaching at Springfield Elementary taught her many things. For one, the teachers weren't very cheerful. She did not expect them to be as spontaneous as herself, but she thought all teachers actually enjoyed teaching, and these teachers seemed to wish they were anywhere but in the school. She was astonished. Not only that, but they smoked during school hours…in the school building! Valerie found this very odd; she wondered if she would fit in at this school at all. It seemed the only thing she had in common with them at the moment was her clothing, and that most certainly wasn't what she normally wore. What would they think of her regular clothes? Dare she dress the way she liked?

"So, Ms. Frizzle," Edna Krabappel said, trying to strike up conversation. "Do you smoke?" She held out a pack of cigarettes as she leaned against the counter of the teacher's lounge, bored.

Valerie looked around at the teachers, the majority of them smoking cigarettes. "No," she said politely.

"Suit yourself," Edna shrugged.

"Smoking is terrible for the environment, your health, and the health of everyone around you. Plus, it's a terrible example for the students!"

"What they don't know won't kill them!" Ms. Krabappel laughed, and Ms. Hoover and the others joined.

"But what about your health?" Ms. Frizzle questioned.

"After going through a divorce, boyfriend after boyfriend, endless nights of canned soup, and day after day of snot nosed children, you just stop caring."

Ms. Frizzle was bewildered. "Don't you like teaching?"

"Eh," the teachers all said in unison, one of them muttering, "The pay is crap."

"I take it _you _like teaching?" Edna asked.

"I love teaching, and I loved all of my students. They were all so bright, and it was so enriching knowing they were learning because of me."

Edna blinked. "Then why did you come to this hell hole?"

Ms. Frizzle was silent a moment. She could tell that there was something more to Ms. Krabappel than your typical cranky teacher. What she mentioned before—the divorce—she was obviously lonely. Valerie could relate, but she made the best of the situation. Teaching gave her a lift in spirits. To Valerie, teaching was no job. It was both escape and entertainment. "You poor woman," she said simply, putting a hand on Edna's shoulder before shaking her head and walking out of the teachers' lounge, making note to not visit that room much.

"What a strange woman," Edna said after Ms. Frizzle left. "She's never going to make it at this school. Ha!" she laughed and shook her head, putting out her cigarette.

.

By the end of the day, Valerie had gotten more paper balls and spit wads thrown at her than she knew was possible. Never in her life had she seen such misbehaving children! She supposed it was because she was new, and they were trying to take advantage of her. Well, she could be their friend, or she could be their enemy; whatever it took to teach those children. But of course she planned to try to be their friend first; she wanted to be their friend, but she wanted them to behave, as well. The next day she planned to wear one of her normal outfits and be herself. If they saw how fun she could be, surely they would learn to love her.

Edna let herself into the principal's office, with not so much as a knock and said, "Seymour, your new teacher is strange."

"What do you mean?" Principal Skinner quickly put away the paddleball he had been playing with back in the drawer with the other confiscated items and cleared his throat.

Edna smirked and walked over to his desk, sitting on the edge of it. "Well, for one thing, she had the nerve to come tell us that we shouldn't be smoking because it could harm the environment! Ha!" When the principal didn't say anything, she continued. "And she's so enthusiastic about teaching. She finds joy in it! How can someone be that excited about teaching?"

Principal Skinner blinked. "Are you trying to get yourself fired?"

Edna blushed slightly. "Of course not! I like teaching…But she is over the top excited about it. She has a passion for it like I have a passion for…" She trailed off, wondering what she even had a passion for anymore. "Well, you get my point."

"Hm…Next time you see the woman, tell her I want to see her."

"You're not going to fire her, are you?"

"Of course not. I think she is going to make a fine addition to this drab school, actually. This drab school with its drab teachers…" Seymour walked over to the window, looking out it, thoughtfully. "It's about time we had a bit of life here."

"Drab?" Edna said quietly.

Seymour blushed. "I-I didn't mean you."

"Sure you didn't, Seymour," Edna rolled her eyes as she turned towards the door. "See you tomorrow, 'chief'," she half joked, walking out the door.

"Yes, yes," Seymour replied, still staring out the window in thought. When he hired this new teacher, he had no idea she would be so enthusiastic about her job. Maybe the students would actually learn something, and their test scores would rise. Their school had been in the gutter for years, not only financially, but academically, as well. This could be just what they needed. _What was that woman's name again?_ Seymour racked his brains. _Ah, Frizzle. Valerie Frizzle, _he thought to himself, with a thoughtful smile.

.

When Ms. Frizzle got back to her apartment, she found Liz had been waiting for her. She had probably gotten quite bored during the day all by herself. "Oh, Liz," the woman said with a sigh as she tossed her briefcase aside. "I did not think being in a school could be so depressing!"

Liz cocked her head to the side.

Ms. Frizzle sat down at the kitchen table and sighed again before explaining her day to Liz, who seemed shocked herself. "Shocking, isn't it?" she said, and the lizard nodded her head. "I'm so used to happy, smiling faces at school, and people who follow rules. Our last group of students were pretty well behaved weren't they?" Sure, they had the occasional mishap, but everyone made mistakes, everyone got a temper sometimes, but on the whole, they were very well behaved. And they also had loved their teacher very much. They would never humiliate her in such a way as her new students had.

Liz came over and patted Valerie's shoulder to console her. "Don't worry, Liz. Tomorrow I'm going to march right into that school and be my happy self. I'm going to wear what I want to wear, and if they don't like it—tough! I'm going to teach those students in whatever means I must!"

The lizard smacked her fist into her palm. "No, no!" Ms. Frizzle laughed. "Perhaps not by _any _means, but if those students act up, I'm just going to still treat them respectfully. I'm going to try to befriend them and teach them in the most fun ways I can come up with. Surely they'll get tired of being mean to me and start adoring me like my older students did!" The woman smiled. She wasn't completely confident of this, but it was worth a try. Surely the students weren't complete animals.

* * *

Her next day at work seemed to start out no different. The students started throwing paper at her the moment she walked in the door. She was wearing her solar system dress, though, because the class would be learning about, well, the solar system.

"What's on your head?" a student asked, cheekily.

She knew the student was being cheeky, but she answered him as though he wasn't. "Oh, this?" She pointed to her head. "My solar system cap? You like it? I made it myself!" She put the cap down on her desk and smiled to the class. "Now, let's take roll, shall we? I would like to get took know you all better!"

Once she got to Lisa Simpson's name, Lisa smiled politely. "Here!" she said brightly and then added, "Don't mind my classmates. They are quite ignorant."

"Don't listen to Lisa!" one kid said.

"Yeah, she's not even supposed to be in our class! Ms. Hoover got tired of her and moved her here!"

"Ah, Ms. Hoover is the second grade teacher, correct? Well, we've got ourselves a very smart young lady in our class, then, to have moved up a grade." Ms. Frizzle smiled at Lisa, who grinned back.

"She's not so smart!" one kid teased.

"I'm smarter than the average second grader, and that was enough for Ms. Hoover to move me up a grade."

"No, you were so annoying that she kicked you out!"

"Annoyed by my intellect, perhaps," Lisa turned back to the front, ending the conversation.

"Oh, excellent debate, class!" Ms. Frizzle said, confusing the students.

"We weren't debating; we were fighting!" a boy protested.

"Oh, no, no. It was a debate! A debate of intellect. How about we challenge Lisa's intellect with a bit of a game?"

She smiled as she watched the students' faces brighten at the idea of a game. Her tactic was working; they seemed to be getting more comfortable with her.

They played a game of Jeopardy, using categories about the solar system. Many of the students were quite bright, but none as bright as Lisa. Ms. Frizzle was both shocked and pleased. The class, however, was only annoyed. They seemed to have fun, though, nonetheless.

At lunchtime, the students left the classroom, cheerfully waving goodbye to their teacher, with the occasional, "See you later, Ms. Frizzle!"

Lisa stayed behind to say, "I'm sorry that my classmates got a bad impression of you. You seem like a very nice person, who doesn't mind showing off her unique style and speaking her mind. You also clearly know good intellect when you see it," she smiled slyly.

Ms. Frizzle patted Lisa's head. "You are quite an intelligent little girl. You probably know more than the average _third _grader."

"I do," Lisa answered quickly, making Ms. Frizzle laugh.

"Quite confident in yourself, too, I see."

"Sometimes," Lisa admitted. "Not a lot of kids like me too much because they only look at my smarts instead of my personality."

"Well, Lisa, be proud of your smarts because one day, you will be even smarter and have the capability to be whatever you want to be, and a lot of people don't have that chance. A lot of people just have to settle, but with brains like yours, you can literally do anything you want."

"I like you," Lisa smiled.

"I like you, too, Lisa," Ms. Frizzle smiled.

Lisa went off happily to lunch, knowing she had made a new friend. Ms. Frizzle seemed like a wonderful woman, and most likely she was the type of teacher who didn't necessarily need the answer key, unlike the rest of the teachers.

Ms. Frizzle was getting ready to set up lunch right at her desk. She did not necessarily feel the need to go to the teacher's lounge that day. However, there was a little rap at her door, and she turned her head to see Ms. Krabappel. "Sorry to bother you, Ms. Frizzle, but Seymour—I mean, Principal Skinner wants to see you." It was not necessarily an accident that Edna said the principal's first name; she just liked to throw it out there that she was definitely on first name basis with him.

"Oh, does he?" Ms. Frizzle tucked away her lunch and stood up, straightening her dress. "Whatever for?"

"I haven't the faintest," Edna pursed her lips slightly. She remembered well the look Seymour had had on his face the day before, and she hoped she wasn't going to have competition now. She knew Seymour had broken up with her six months before, but she always had that hope they would get back together.

"Well, thank you, Ms. Krabappel," Ms. Frizzle smiled and made her way to the principal's office. She hoped that he did not want to see her because her clothes were too outlandish for his taste. Surely not, but she did slightly fear that. Some people just did not understand her style.

Ms. Frizzle made her way to Principal Skinner's office and politely knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Skinner asked.

"Ms. Frizzle," Valerie answered.

"Ah, yes! Do come in." He smiled when she let herself inside. "I've been expecting you."

"Yes, sir. You wanted to see me?"

"Sit down," the principal suggested, and the woman obeyed. Skinner sat back in his chair and said thoughtfully, "Edna tells me you are very enthusiastic about teaching."

The woman sighed. "Is that such a bad thing? I don't understand why loving your job is so wrong." She stood up. "I became a teacher for a reason. I wanted to teach students and show them that learning can be fun, as well. I wanted to make sure that they made the grade and learned enough information so that they will do well in the real world. I wanted to see them succeed because it makes me happy. I take joy and pride in my work and seeing my students do well!"

The principal chuckled a little at her feistiness. "You…are one hell of a woman," he said bluntly.

Ms. Frizzle blushed. "Sir?" she said, confused.

"You are just what this school needs."

"I am?" Valerie smiled a little.

"Yes. I've had enough of this drab school. We need to shed some light on it, and you are just the woman to do it, I believe! These students are going to _learn_, by gosh, and we're going to have the best third graders in history!"

The principal was getting so excited that Ms. Frizzle had to try hard to hold her laughter in. "I can't promise you the best third graders, but I can promise you that I will do my very best to teach them as much as I can."

"Good," Skinner smiled. "That is all."

Ms. Frizzle nodded and smiled. "Thank you, sir."

She started to leave his office when he stopped her. "Oh, um, Ms. Frizzle?" The man cleared his throat.

"Yes?"

"You're a very pretty woman."

"Well, thank you, sir," she smiled and quickly left his office to hide the growing redness in her cheeks. Was that normal for a woman's boss to tell her she is pretty, or was he flirting with her? In either case, it was out of the ordinary. And many things were not seen as _out of the ordinary_ for Ms. Frizzle, but this was.

Edna had been watching in the general direction of the office from behind a row of lockers, and upon seeing Valerie walk out blushing, she became very suspicious. _What on Earth did Seymour say to her?_ To risk being caught spying, she darted into the teacher's lounge. She decided to leave it alone for now, but if there was anything more suspicious, she would be having a talk with Seymour.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, when Valerie was getting ready for work, she nudged Liz, who was sleeping in her tiny bed still. The lizard sprung up and looked around wildly, making Valerie giggle. The lizard tapped her foot impatiently waiting for answers. "Do you want to come to work with me today?"

Liz's face lit up and she jumped up and down nodding.

Valerie smiled. "I believe it's time to unleash my next plan of action." When Liz tilted her head in confusion, Valerie uttered two words, "Field trip." The lizard nodded excitedly and clapped her hands. "Come on; we're going to be late." Liz started running around in circles, waving her hands everywhere. "Oh, Liz, you do not have to do anything to get ready. You are fine. Let's go!" The reptile halted her frantic actions and blushed a little, hopping onto the teacher's shoulder. "Better put you in my purse for now." The lizard sighed, but hopped in her owner's purse, peeking her head out a little, only to get pushed back inside.

.

Valerie marched right into the principal's office as soon as she walked into the school. She needed to get permission to go on their field trip, of course. Today, the woman was wearing another one of her solar system dresses, but this time it was as black as night, making the bright coloured planets stand out beautifully.

"Yes…?" Principal Skinner looked up and grinned to the new school teacher.

"I would like permission to take my class on a field trip, please."

"I see…When would you be wanting to take this field trip, Ms. Frizzle?"

"Today," the woman answered calmly.

The principal blinked. "This is a little last minute, don't you think? Our school is quite low on funding as it is…" He was apologetic, but still bewildered at her request.

"Well, the thing is, sir, I won't be needing any money."

"Oh, well in that case…Won't be needing any money?!" This seemed bizarre to the man. What kind of field trip did not require money? "Where are you taking those kids?"

Valerie laughed softly. "That's my little secret."

"No secrets here," Skinner smiled, eyes raised.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," the principal smirked.

"I'm taking my class to see the planets of the solar system," Ms. Frizzle smiled and started to walk out the door.

Skinner starting laughing. Obviously he did not believe her, just as Valerie had expected. "Well, wherever you're going, if it's free, take the fourth graders with you, too. They are idiots and could use some good teaching."

"Whatever you say, sir."

"Just watch out for Bart Simpson. He's a trouble maker."

"Related to Lisa, by any chance? She's such a sweet girl."

"But her brother is the devil…literally."

.

Ms. Frizzle had offered to let Ms. Krabappel come along with her students, but she was just glad to get rid of them. However, Seymour suggesting the teacher take her students on a field trip seemed fishy—yet another suspicion. She was fixing to go storm into the principal's office and ask the meaning of this, but something occurred to her. Bart Simpson would be going on this field trip. Ms. Frizzle would have to deal with Bart! Edna rubbed her hands together and started laughing a bit maniacally. "She'll never be able to handle Bart. I've had training; I can handle him. I have something on Ms. Valerie Frizzle!" Even if her tactics were to just blatantly ignore the boy or send him to the principal, knowing he would only misbehave again, she still was used to the boy. Ms. Frizzle did not know what was coming to her. She continued laughing.

"Um, Edna?" Seymour suddenly appeared at the door, having heard the insane laughter. "Are you okay?"

Edna blushed and turned around, walking up to the man. "Yes, of course I'm okay." She smiled to him, and he smiled back for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only seconds.

"Well, if you're okay, then, see you." The man walked out as quickly as he had walked in.

Edna scowled in the direction Seymour had went, but then sighed, shutting her classroom door. She slumped over to her teacher's desk and slid into her chair. She pulled out a bottle of wine from her desk drawer and poured herself a glass. She laughed a moment to herself at the fact that Skinner still did not know she kept this in her drawer. She then drained the glass as quickly as she had poured it, if not quicker, and sighed heavily, her face landing on her folded arms upon her desk.

.

"Who are you? Are you the new teacher? Where are we going? Why isn't Otto driving? Why aren't we using a normal school bus?" a boy started asking.

"You must be Bart Simpson!" Ms. Frizzle smiled, without even turning back to look.

"Whoa, how'd you know?"

"I was warned to look out for you," She chuckled.

"Oh," he gulped and sat down beside Milhouse. "Well, you haven't seen me at my worst, lady!"

"Don't be mean to her, Bart!" Lisa asserted from a few rows behind him. "I like her."

"Oh, Miss Lisa, teacher's pet!" her brother mocked. He then turned back to the front. "But seriously, lady, where are we going?"

"My name is Ms. Frizzle," she corrected calmly. "And we're going to Mercury."

"Whoa-ho, cool!" Bart laughed.

"That's impossible!" Martin piped up. "Mercury is the closest planet to the sun! We would burn up!"

_I thought Principal Skinner said the fourth graders were idiots, _Ms. Frizzle thought to herself, but held her tongue on that. "Right you are! But don't worry, we aren't going to burn up."

"Awww," Bart and a few others groaned.

Ms. Frizzle blinked, but said. "Well, class, are you all ready to visit Mercury? Today will be such an exciting day! I can hardly contain my excitement!" Suddenly Liz poked her head out of the woman's purse and jumped onto one of the bus seats with a huge smile and held her arms out as if to say _ta da! _"Oh, this is Liz, my lizard," she giggled.

"Whoa!" some of the students exclaimed.

"I've seen cooler lizards than that," Bart said simply. Liz lunged at Bart and scowled in his face. "Okay, okay. You're the coolest lizard I've ever seen. Sheesh!" Liz smiled and hopped back over to where Ms. Frizzle was. She was very excited for this. She did not know this group of students, but it would be a great adventure. "Well, class. Now that you have met Liz, I think it's time for you to see what my bus can do!"

All of the students were confused. "Bus, do your stuff!" Valerie shouted, pressing a button, causing the bus to turn into a spaceship. Suddenly all the students were handed spacesuits, as well.

"A-are you magic, woman? This is witchcraft!" Bart exclaimed.

"Maybe I am," Ms. Frizzle giggled and started driving the bus towards the sky. "Put on your spacesuits, children. We will be there before you know it."

"Wow, Bart, this teacher is kind of cool, isn't she?" Milhouse grinned.

"Witchcraft," Bart repeated. Maybe he ought to be on better behavior today, if he could help it. Who knows what this lady was capable of?

.

Meanwhile, Edna still had her face in her arms. She could have just gone on home since her job was basically taken from her that day, but she could not find the will to move. What was going on? Why hadn't Seymour asked her out again? They had such chemistry. By now, she had forgotten why they had broken up in the first place, but she figured by now he would have come to his senses and wanted her back. They seemed to be growing further and further apart, and to top it off, a new teacher comes, and he seems a little too interested in her for Edna's taste. Normally she would be thrilled to get her students taken from her, but this time it was different.

She remembered Seymour calling the school and its teachers drab. Maybe he really did think she was so boring. Well, she would show him. She wouldn't lose to Ms. Frizzle!

.

The students with Ms. Frizzle were having a fun time. By now they were on Venus. They were learning a lot with the help of the new teacher and having the time of their life all the while. This was the last sort of field trip they would have expected to go on or that they thought was possible at all.

"This is fun!" Terri said.

"Yeah!" Her twin Sherri agreed. "No gravity is amazing!"

"Excellent observation, Sherri! Or Terri…" Ms. Frizzle got confused and laughed. "There is no gravity in space so we can float around or do backflips!" The woman started doing backflips. "Wahoo!"

"Whee!" Ralph Wiggum started trying to do backflips, as well and failing. "Uh oh. Ms. Hoo—I mean Ms. Frizzle, I think I wet myself!" the boy giggled.

Ms. Frizzle held her tongue from commenting on that and instead said, "Ralph, why are you here? You are in second grade. I wasn't aware I had second graders, too!"

"Well, I was late to school, and I saw Lisa get on the school bus so I thought maybe I'd forgotten it was field trip day so I followed her!"

"But Ralph, I'm not in your class anymore!" Lisa remarked.

"Oh yeah," the boy looked down and sniffed, suddenly starting to cry.

Lisa turned to Ms. Frizzle and said, "It's really amazing you know all of our names already! Sherri, Terri, and Ralph aren't even your students, and you know their names already!"

"She's a witch, I tell you," Bart said, floating by with Milhouse.

"She is not! She's an amazing woman," Lisa defended.

"Well, since the next planet is Earth, obviously we will be skipping that one, class. Who wants to tell me which planet comes after Earth?"

Lisa shot up her hand with a grin.

"Someone who is not Lisa," Ms. Frizzle smiled. She knew the girl was bright, but others needed a chance, as well. "How about you, Bart?"

"Um…." Bart's eyes got wide, and he looked around nervously. "Why not ask one of those guys?" he pointed to the left of him.

"Come on, Bart. I know there is a brain inside that head of yours! What planet comes after Earth? Mercury, Venus, Earth…?"

Bart looked around nervously, muttering the planet names to himself before finally saying, "Mars?"

"That's correct, Bart!" She could tell the boy was a bit scared of her, which sort of amused her, since she was supposed to be watching out for this kid. But she wanted all of her students to be comfortable with her so she came up with an idea. "How would you like to drive us to Mars, Bart?"

"Can I?!" Bart suddenly got excited. "Whoa!" he ran into the bus and sat in the driver's seat, dancing around a little as he sat, humming a little tune.

Ms. Frizzle chuckled. The other students were horrified. "We're going to die!" a couple of them shouted.

"Don't be silly, class! As I always say, you have to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!"

"I can do that," Bart replied.

"Then let's go!"

"Alright ladies and gents, fasten your seatbelts 'cause this is going to be one hell of a ride!" Bart said as he started up the bus.

"Language, Bart," Ms. Frizzle said, though amused by the boy. He seemed really cute.

As the bus started accelerating quickly through space, everyone on the bus shut their eyes tight except for Ms. Frizzle, who was as calm as could be.

"I _really_ wet myself this time!" Ralph said, a bit embarrassed. "Oopsie."

.

Edna, who had gone through the rest of the wine bottle unintentionally, was kicked back in her chair, her feet up on her desk. Her mind was drifting back to a scene from a few months back.

She and Seymour had just made love for the first time—literally his first time ever so it was extra special. They were both under the sheets on her bed in her apartment. Goodness knows they couldn't have done this at Seymour's place. Not only is it awkward enough with Seymour's mother there, what would she have said or done? Edna shuddered to think of that. The woman could be quite a scary person.

"Seymour," Edna whispered, snuggling up close to him.

"Hm?" the man smiled, holding the woman closer.

"You are really special to me, you know that?"

Seymour kissed Edna's forehead. "I do know that. You are very special to me, too. I love you, Edna," he whispered.

Edna blushed a little and after a few moments, finally said, "I love you, too, Seymour."

"You finally said it," Seymour grinned and hugged her tightly for a moment. Indeed, Edna had had trouble saying it before, but she knew now. This wasn't just her usual desperation to have a man; she actually loved Seymour—very much, at that.

Edna rolled over on her back, reaching on the nightstand for her cigarettes, pulling one out and lighting it up. Once inhaling it, she felt like she could breathe again. Telling Seymour that she loved him seemed to have tensed all of her body up. "You are a very beautiful woman," Seymour breathed, gazing at her body. Though he had just completely doted on her and her body moments before, he didn't think he could ever look at it without being absolutely amazed.

She knew he was eyeing her body, and she smirked a little bit, amused. "It's a shame you didn't see me in my better years," she smiled over at him, still lying on her back. Seymour was now propped up with his elbow, admiring her.

"What do you mean, better years? You look great!"

"Oh, please," Edna shook her head with a laugh. "I've let myself go over the last twenty years, Seymour."

"Who hasn't? We're middle age, not young adults. I think you look amazing, and I mean that." He kissed her cheek.

"You have known me for fifteen years. Why didn't you ever ask me out before?" Edna asked casually.

"Oh, I don't know, Edna. We knew each other as teacher and principal for many years before we became friends. It's not that I did not think you were pretty because you were certainly a looker." He kissed the grin forming on Edna's lips with a smile. When her grin turned slowly into a frown, he asked her what was wrong, slightly alarmed.

"Fifteen years ago, my train wreck had barely begun," she whispered.

"Train wreck?"

"Don't act like you don't know what a wreck I am today." Sure, Seymour made her very happy now, but some things could not be fixed completely so quickly.

"Well, I did notice how sad you were before we got together. I could see it in your eyes, and believe me, it makes my heart so happy to see your eyes light up now." Edna smiled softly at him, hoping he would continue speaking, and he did. "You seemed very lonely. Sometimes being our age and not having met the right one yet is a bit depressing. I understood that. Looking around at all the other couples in town, with all of their children…I knew that it hurt you to know that you did not have that yet. I could see the bags under your eyes, as if something kept you up at night. You had a bit of a drinking problem…"

"A bit?" Edna butted in with a short laugh, sitting up. By then, a few tears were in her eyes after hearing Seymour speak. The little things he noticed moved her, but also to hear her feelings spoke in words was upsetting. But there was more—more than Seymour seemed to understand. For the last twenty years, she had felt like she was running deeper and deeper into her own grave. She spoke again, her voice breaking slightly, though she tried to steady it. "A bit of a drinking problem?" she repeated. "Soup for one and wine for three, every night, except on those nights I want to numb the pain so badly I just down every bottle I find until I completely pass out!"

Seymour's eyes widened a little at her shrill voice and the words she was saying. He took one of her hands in his and held it. "I-I had no idea…"

After a few moments of silence, Edna spoke again. "Believe it or not, once upon a time, I actually wanted to teach. It was my lifelong dream to teach little children. I was still in college when I married. My husband and I had our problems; we fought often. He admired me for having a dream, but he thought I could do something better. He didn't think being a teacher would be good enough. He often did not think I was good enough. My life goals, my appearance, you name it…I tried so hard to please him; I did. I wanted it to work…" she sighed.

"After my husband left me is when I started drinking so much. It numbed the pain, but it wasn't good at keeping me very level headed or responsible. I got fired from my first teaching job. I taught at a private school so you can imagine how strict they were there. My dream was crushed. It seemed I was not good enough for anyone."

"You're good enough for me," Seymour said quietly.

Edna smiled and patted his hand. "I kept hearing the nagging voice of my ex husband in my head, constantly telling me what I was doing wrong. 'I told you teaching was a bad idea, Edna,' 'You've gained weight, Edna,' 'You have bags under your eyes, Edna'. It made me hate myself so badly. You don't know how many times I tried to kill myself."

Seymour's eyes looked like they might pop out of their sockets.

"Oh, don't worry, dear. I stopped trying long ago. I couldn't get myself to really do it. I can't do anything right. Hell, I can't even kill myself right. I was starting to wonder what my use was. Then, I landed the job at Springfield Elementary. I was back to square one really; I came from Springfield, after all," she laughed a little. "After much desperation and grabbing men, I finally found you, and…you made my world seem so much brighter. Everything is not perfect yet, but it's getting there because of you, Seymour. You have made my life so much better. You don't even know…Well, now I suppose you do. I've told you my life story," she laughed softly.

"Edna, I had no idea…I'm so sorry…"

"Shh, don't apologize," she touched a finger to his lips. "It's all in my past now. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything, my dear…"

"Please don't leave me," she whispered, tears finally spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she clutched on to him.

Seymour wanted to cry himself. He pulled Edna close to him in a tight hug. "I promise," he whispered back.

.

Back in reality, Edna lifted her head and said, "Ha!" followed with a harsh sigh. She shoved the empty bottle back in the drawer and staggered out of her room and headed toward the school doors. Ms. Elizabeth Hoover saw her and excused herself to her students to step into the hall.

"Edna, have you seen Ralph? His father said he came to school, but he's not in my classroom."

"How the hell should I know?" Edna whipped around, her eyes glowering.

"Are you drunk?" Elizabeth whispered, though she knew the answer to that.

"Maybe a little, I don't know," Edna sighed, feeling herself lose her balance, and she just let herself slide down the wall and sit on her bottom. Her head fell in her hands again.

"Oh dear," Elizabeth sighed. She had a hunch of what was going on. She couldn't let Skinner see her like this, for more reasons than one. "Come on, dear. I'll drive you to your apartment, okay?" Edna nodded, knowing she had no other choice as Ms. Hoover helped her to stand up again.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, the fourth graders came into the classroom talking excitedly about their field trip from the day before. "I didn't even know I was so smart until Ms. Frizzle told me so!" one student said.

"Yeah, she even said Bart was smart!"

"I don't think crashing into Mars was such a smart thing!" another laughed.

"Hey now," Bart said. "The woman said to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. That is just what I did!" Upon seeing their teacher, Bart said, "Well if it isn't Ms. Krabby Krabappel," he laughed.

"I'm not crabby," Edna forced a smile.

Bart let out another laugh. "Sure you're not, _Krab_appel."

Edna ignored him and told the students to get into their seats.

"Ms. Krabappel," one student raised their hand. "Why aren't you as cool as Ms. Frizzle?"

"Yeah, Ms. Krabappel?" Another raised their hand. "Ms. Frizzle is a better teacher. We learned so much in one day. Is that not how teachers are _supposed _to be?"

"She isn't good enough to be a teacher. She's nothing without her answer key!" one kid exclaimed.

"Alright, students, that's enough. I can be just as good at Ms. Frizzle." Edna sat on the edge of her desk. "What would you students like to learn today?" She thought maybe if she gave them an option, she would be more likable as a teacher.

"I want to learn about the moon!" Milhouse said.

"Fine, we'll do science. Get out your textbooks."

"No, that's not fun enough," Bart said. "Take us to the moon, lady."

"I can't do that. That's impossible."

"Oh, but nothing is impossible with Ms. Frizzle."

"Well I am not Ms. Frizzle."

"Then you admit you're not as good as she is?"

"I'm not admitting anything. Now get out your freaking textbooks!" The room became eerily silent as the students went for their textbooks. Edna calmly grabbed her own teacher's edition and got started with the day. It was going to be a normal day; there was no way that she could be as cheery about her job as Ms. Frizzle; there was no way she could be as good a teacher as Ms. Frizzle. It seemed to be that way, and she would just face that, as terrible as she hated to admit that to herself.

.

The next few weeks went on normally with nothing suspicious happening. Principal Skinner was still keeping his distance from Edna for some unknown reason to her. He hadn't shown anymore special attention to Ms. Frizzle, to Edna's relief, but little did she know, he was only working up courage to ask the woman out.

Ms. Frizzle was getting ready to leave one day after school when Principal Skinner poked his head in her classroom. "Sorry to bother you, Ms. Frizzle," he started.

"You're not bothering me, sir. Do you need something?"

"I just wanted to say that I am very grateful for you. I have never seen the children so happy and eager to learn. I don't know what you do or how you do it, but thank you."

Ms. Frizzle laughed. "I am just doing my job, sir, but thank you."

"You are one hell of a woman."

"So I've heard," Ms. Frizzle laughed again, turning back to her desk to continue packing away papers. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and she blushed, turning around.

"I mean it," Skinner said quietly. "Would you…like to go out sometime?"

Valerie dropped the papers she was holding, the tests scattering on the floor. She instantly bent down to gather them, but found Skinner had made it to the ground before she had, helping her pick them up. Their eyes met for a moment. "Well?" he chuckled.

"Is that okay?" Ms. Frizzle had never heard of a teacher dating her boss.

"It's okay with me," Skinner smiled. "How about it?"

Ms. Frizzle was silent a moment. _Valerie, you haven't had a date in years. Don't turn him down; he's a nice man, and you have no reason to say no. A date will be good for you! _She smiled to him. "Alright, sir. I will go on a date with you."

"Wonderful," he grinned. "How about tomorrow night?"

"Sounds perfect."

* * *

"So, Ms. Frizzle," Seymour said after a large silence as they ate their dinner the next night.

"You may call me Valerie," she smiled a little. "You asked me on a date; obviously you wanted to know me on a first name basis," she chuckled.

"Well, Valerie, in that case, I believe you may call me Seymour."

Valerie simply nodded. This was very awkward for her—going on a date with her boss. She was not usually uncomfortable with doing anything, but this was a little out of her comfort zone. The first half of the date was very silent and awkward, but once they were finished eating, Seymour asked if Valerie wanted to dance. However odd a fancy restaurant may be for a first date, Seymour felt like he owed Valerie for doing so much for their third grade students.

The frizzy haired woman agreed. Dancing sounded better than sitting awkwardly in silence, and she didn't want to go home just yet. She wanted to have a bit of fun; she had not been on a date in years. While they were dancing, Principal Skinner asked Ms. Frizzle to tell him a little about herself. Valerie surprised herself by opening up so much to the man. She loved getting a chance to talk about all her past adventures, though. She told him of all the places in the world she had seen and the people she had met. She told him about her old teaching job and how much she had loved those students. Seymour was amazed at every word. This woman had done it all.

"Wow, you are absolutely amazing," was all Seymour could manage to say.

Valerie blushed. "Am I really? What about you? What adventures could you tell me about?"

Seymour chuckled. "My adventures are nothing compared to yours," he brushed a little strand of her hair behind her ear. He told her about his army days, probably the highlight of his storytelling. He then told her how he became principal at the school. "And that's about it, really," Seymour blushed slightly. He always knew his life did not amount to much, but telling it aloud made it seem even more so.

Ms. Frizzle smiled. "I think any man who has been in the army is very brave. You're a very brave man, Seymour."

"I just do what I have to," he smiled. "Your life is so interesting. I would love to hear more of your stories sometime, Valerie. Would you like to do this again sometime?"

"I'd like that."

Skinner drove Valerie home and walked her to her door. "I had a nice time," she commented.

"Oh, so did I, Valerie." There was another awkward silence before Seymour added, "Would you mind if I…I kissed your cheek?" He did not want to surprise her and upset her so he figured asking was more appropriate.

Valerie chuckled. "I wouldn't mind at all." She hadn't had a kiss of any kind in years, other than from Liz; she had forgotten what they felt like. Once she felt Seymour's lips against her cheek for that moment, it gave her butterflies in her stomach. "Thank you for tonight," Valerie said, smiling up at him.

"No—thank you, Valerie Frizzle. You are an amazing woman."

"You are so sweet," Valerie said before unlocking her door. "I would invite you in, but I think that would be taking things a little too fast," she giggled.

Seymour blushed hard and cleared his throat. "Indeed. Well, see you at school."

"Indeed," Valerie chuckled, waving goodbye to him.

.

Upon walking in her apartment, she was confronted by Liz, who had been waiting up for her. The lizard pointed to the clock impatiently. "Oh, it is a bit late, isn't it, Liz?" Valerie chuckled, seeing it was well after ten o'clock. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting." Liz looked at Valerie, tapping her foot. "Oh, you want to know the details, do you?" the teacher grinned. "There isn't much to tell, Liz. He is a nice man," she started off, sitting down in her arm chair and kicking off her shoes. "We don't really have anything in common besides our work, but he's…a nice man," she smiled, her eyes closing for she was a bit tired. Liz hopped onto Valerie's shoulder and touched her nose to the woman's cheek. She knew that her owner had not had anyone to love in many years. She was happy for her and hoped the best would happen for her.

* * *

Weeks went on by, and the two got closer. Neither felt like they had necessarily found their soul mate, but they cared for one another. Valerie was just happy to know that feeling again—the feeling of someone caring for her. She enjoyed getting kisses and hugs and the occasional flowers. It made her feel special. She honestly did not expect to spend the rest of her life with this man. If it happened, and she was happy then that was fine, but she was not one to expect the best for anything. She hoped for the best, but expected the worst. That way, she was never too disappointed.

"So, are you going on any field trips today, Valerie?" Seymour asked as they walked into the school together.

"Oh, I don't know yet, Seymour. My field trips are often quite spontaneous. I wait for the perfect opportunity for the best learning experience!" Ms. Frizzle smiled.

"Wow, you're a wonder, Ms. Frizzle," Seymour fought back the urge to kiss her cheek, as they were in the school building now. "I will see you at lunch," he smiled to her before heading to his office.

Edna had been watching from her classroom. She had been getting suspicious of them for a while now, but had not said anything. Valerie noticed Edna looking her direction as she passed her room and stopped to wave. "Good morning, Edna!" she said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Ms. Frizzle," Edna said through clenched teeth and a forced smile.

Once Ms. Frizzle had passed on to her own classroom, Edna let out a sort of snarl. _Something is going on, and I am going to find out. She and Seymour are too close for my comfort. _

At lunchtime, Edna started searching for Ms. Frizzle. She looked in her classroom, the bathrooms, the teachers' lounge…everywhere but where she feared she was—the principal's office. Ms. Hoover saw her storming through the halls and stopped her as she passed the teachers' lounge again.

"Have you seen Ms. Frizzle?" Edna pursed her lips.

"She's in Skinner's office. She's been eating lunch there the past week…I thought you knew that," Ms. Hoover knew that would upset Edna, but it was only the truth. She would have found out sooner or later.

"Well, I was just hoping it was not true," Edna said before storming in the direction of the principal's office.

"Edna, what are you doing?" Elizabeth's eyes widened, catching her arm, but after Edna angrily shook it off, she backed away, knowing there was nothing she could do.

The woman made her way to Seymour's office, only to find the door shut and the blinds on the window closed. She stood there staring in shock and anger for a few moments. _We always shut the blinds when we kissed…and other things…_ Edna's eyes widened at the thought of Seymour doing anything with another woman. Kissing was bad enough. Surely, that was all that was going on in there, but…it really hurt her to know that.

She slowly walked back towards the teachers' lounge, her face changed from anger to sorrow. "Edna?" Elizabeth said softly, reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder in comfort.

"I'll be fine," Edna managed to say, but feeling tears welling in her eyes, she rushed onward to the restroom. She steadied herself by clasping onto the sink, looking into the mirror. The bags under her eyes had only become more defined the last week. She had been doing a lot better when she had been with Seymour, but ever since they broke up, she was declining—sinking back into that depressed state she had been hoping to get out of for years. She could hardly sleep at night, especially now, seeing Seymour with another woman. She had been in denial for a while, but now it had been confirmed that they were most certainly together, doing God knows what in his office at that very moment.

_Edna, what is happening to you? Weren't you once young and lively with not a care in the world? _She thought to herself. She honestly couldn't remember a time like that. She had been like this for so long. Right when everything seemed to be looking up, what she cared about most was taken away from her, yet again. Was she jealous of Ms. Frizzle or simply angry at Skinner? _It doesn't matter. You don't deserve him. You don't deserve anything except what you have gotten—everything you love taken away from you. You aren't pretty. You're just a desperate, middle aged woman. No one will ever really love you. If he really loved you, he would be with you. Everything is just an illusion. _

"But I loved him," she whispered to herself, feeling her eyes well up with tears again. "Damn it," she muttered, raising her fist ready to slam it into the mirror when she heard a voice that made her stop.

"Ms. Krabappel, are you okay?" one of her fourth grade girls asked, concerned.

Edna snapped around and did not say a word, but the scowl on her face and the anger in her eyes was enough to make the little girl run away screaming. The teacher's eyes widened and then shut as she sighed. _I'm a monster, _she thought sadly to herself.

.

As Bart and Lisa were walking out of class at the end of the day, Bart said, "Gosh, Lisa, it's not fair. You get to go on all sorts of field trips now."

"I bet Ms. Krabappel wouldn't mind giving her class up to let you go with us sometimes. Doesn't she hate you all?" Lisa laughed.

"Well, sometimes it seems like it but I don't think that'd be a great idea. I think she's really jealous of Ms. Frizzle, man, and she's been looking pretty rough lately."

"What is this?" Lisa cupped her ear. "Bart is actually _caring_ for his teacher?" she teased.

"Shut up," Bart said through clenched teeth, making Lisa giggle. "Okay, fine, I care for the woman. You happy?" He crossed his arms, pouting.

"Yes," Lisa laughed again. "She is a kind woman. I can't imagine how she feels right now. She and Principal Skinner were together for a while."

"What gives Ms. Frizzle any right to come and take her man anyway?" Bart asked.

"Bart, they broke up months ago," Lisa pointed out.

"Oh. Yeah. Well, tough luck for her then!" Bart dismissed it with a shrug.

"How about we go to your place this evening?" Skinner asked.

"That is not very gentlemanly of you, Seymour," Ms. Frizzle laughed. "You should be offering that we go to _your_ place."

"Oh. Well, um…" the man rubbed the back of his neck with a little chuckle. "If you really want to…" He felt embarrassed because he still lived with his mother, and he had yet to tell Valerie this.

"Of course. I would love to!" she smiled.

"There's something I need to warn you about," Seymour said sheepishly as they pulled in the driveway.

"Yes?" Valerie asked.

"I live with my mother…"

"Well, what's wrong with that? Your mother is elderly; it's really sweet you look after her, Seymour. My parents are both dead."

Seymour suddenly felt embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry," he stammered.

"Oh, don't worry about it. They died years ago. I can't wait to meet your mother. I bet she's a very sweet woman."

"She can be," Seymour said simply. He was worried, actually, for this meeting. He did not know how his mother would react. She could be quite unpredictable, loud, and usually angry about something. He led Valerie up to his house and stepped inside, calling, "Mother, I'm home!"

"Good!" Agnes said, looking at the clock before getting up and coming to greet her son. "Right on time, as usual. That's my Seymour!" she smiled to him, but then looked over, noticing the visitor. "Seymour, why did you bring a friend over on Friday night? You know Friday night is silhouette night!" she said gruffly.

"Mother, I know. She will be out of the house before seven," he calmly assured her. He glanced to Valerie, who smiled a little, amused at the old woman. She had no idea what 'silhouette night' meant, but apparently it was tradition, and she wasn't one to step on someone's traditions.

Agnes then situated her glasses and peered at Valerie. "Seymour, is this your girlfriend? Are you dating one of your teachers again?"

Seymour shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Yes, Mother. This is Valerie, the new third grade teacher at my school."

_Seymour has dated another teacher before? _Valerie thought to herself. _How strange and coincidental. _

"You know how I feel about you dating your employees, Seymour!" Agnes continued. "I just don't think it's right!"

"I know, Mother," Seymour said. "I can't help who I take a fancy to, though."

"And she looks too young for you!"

"I'm older than I appear, ma'am," Ms. Frizzle cut in politely as she could.

"Just how old are you?!"

"I'm as old or young as you wish for me to be," Valerie smiled, trying to make light of the situation.

Agnes scowled at the third grade teacher. "Are you a witch?"

"Mother!" Seymour reprimanded. He looked apologetically to Valerie, who smiled, and whispered that it was okay. She went to sit down on a chair, waiting for Seymour to be free from his mother.

"Don't sit there!" Agnes shouted. "That's my chair." Valerie apologized and switched to another one. "That's _Seymour's_!" Valerie sighed and moved to the couch. "That's where the dog sits!"

"Mother, we don't have a dog."

"Well if we did, that's where he would sit! Now scoot to the other end, Miss Teacher."

Valerie was starting to understand why Seymour had not wanted her to come over to his house. His mother probably was a very sweet woman, but right now, all she saw was an over protective, angry, old woman. It made her uncomfortable.

Once Seymour's mother finally left him alone to go start dinner, he sat beside Valerie on the couch. "I'm so sorry about that," he whispered, putting an arm around her and kissing her cheek.

"Too close!" Agnes yelled from the kitchen.

Seymour blushed and sighed, removing his arm from Ms. Frizzle. "It's okay, Seymour, really," Valerie smiled. "But next time, we're going to my place like you wanted," she smirked.

"Sounds like a plan to me," he smiled sheepishly.

.

Seymour drove Valerie home, and on the way, she found the courage to ask something. "Seymour?"

"Yes?"

"What other teacher did you date before me?" The principal's face turned a bit red. When he did not answer, she spoke again. "It was Ms. Krabappel, wasn't it?"

"How did you know?"

"There was a picture of you both in your office…"

Seymour slapped his hand to his forehead. "Why didn't I remove that?"

Valerie laughed. "It's just a photo, Seymour. It doesn't bother me. But things do make more sense now."

"Well, that is in the past. We broke up months ago." Seymour smiled to her. "It is dead."

"To you, perhaps," she said, though not quite sure of that yet. She knew now, though, that Edna was clearly not over it yet. Everything made more sense now—why Edna did not seem to like her, why she seemed so rough and sad lately.

Seymour did not know exactly what Valerie meant by that, but nodded. "Yes. It is dead," he repeated. "I apologize for this evening again, Valerie."

"It is alright, Seymour, I promise." She leaned over and pecked the man's lips.

"Is that all I get?" he chuckled.

"For tonight," Valerie nodded before taking off her seatbelt and walking herself to her door.

Seymour sighed. _I really should have removed that photo. I hope she is not mad. Why haven't I removed it? I am over her…aren't I? Yes, Seymour. You are over Edna Krabappel. You are. _He put his car back in drive and drove back to his house with that mindset.

.

Valerie went to shower as soon as she walked in her apartment and then made her way to her bed to read for a while. It was really early still, but she had something on her mind. She did care for Seymour, and she loved that he cared for her, but it bothered her to know that Edna was jealous of her. She didn't want to be looked at like that; she didn't want to make anyone upset.

"But there's nothing that can be done about that, Valerie," she said to herself. Liz hopped onto the bed with her, confused at why she was talking to herself. She crawled up her front and sat on her shoulder, nuzzling her nose to the woman's neck. "Oh, Liz," Ms. Frizzle smiled. "I'm sorry; I was in a bit of a daze. Life is so much easier when you're single," she laughed a little. Liz put her hands together and then pulled them apart, cocking her head to the side. "No, I don't want to break up with him," the teacher smiled. "I care for him, and I like being cared for…I just wish everyone could be happy is all," she patted the lizard's head.


	4. Chapter 4

Ms. Frizzle was not one to attend church, and she found two good reasons not to this time—Edna and Seymour's mother. So when Seymour suggested she go with him, she declined, but asked if he would like to come over to her apartment that afternoon. He agreed.

"You have a very cozy apartment, Valerie," Seymour smiled as he sipped his tea she had offered him.

"Thank you. I rather like it. It's new to me, of course, having just moved here this year, but it's nice." She smiled, sipping her own tea.

Seymour looked around. There were many book shelves lining the walls of the living room. She had no television set—just many, many books. "Wow," Seymour breathed. "I bet your bedroom is pretty cozy, too," he said casually.

"Seymour!" Valerie blushed a little, but grinned with a little laugh. "Why? Do you want to see it?"

Seymour blushed, as well. "If you want to show it to me," he cleared his throat and looked the other way.

Valerie thought for a moment, but thought, _Oh, what the heck? What do you have to lose? _She stood up with a mischievous grin on her face and winked to Seymour, making him blush. "Oh," he said as she took his hand and pulled him up, leading him to her bedroom.

"Ah, wait," she said softly, turning around. "Liz? Where are you?" The green lizard popped out of the cookie jar on the kitchen counter, grinning sheepishly, with a mouth full of cookies. "Liz!" Valerie scolded. She sighed.

"You have a lizard?" Seymour blinked.

"Yes. Her name is Liz!" Ms. Frizzle smiled.

"Certainly an animated character, isn't she?" he chuckled, a bit bewildered.

"Liz, please don't disturb Seymour and I while we are in my bedroom. We'll be back soon…enough," she added softer with a little giggle.

Liz gave Valerie a wink and a thumbs up. Suddenly, a noise that sounded like a tiny engine of some sort revved up and a tiny car horn went off a few times.

"Bus!" Valerie scolded, blushing, appalled at the bus's behavior.

"Bus?" Skinner blinked.

"Yes, my bus," Valerie smiled, pointing to the miniature bus, that was on the kitchen counter, as well, revving its engine still, teasingly.

It seemed to smile and have eyes, as well. Seymour rubbed his eyes and squinted at the tiny bus. "Does that thing have eyes?"

"Well, of course it does. How else is it supposed to see?" Valerie chuckled.

"This is the bus you use to take the kids on field trips? Why is it in your apartment?"

"It would get too lonely outside! Now come on," she woman giggled and pulled Seymour along. After the two had left, the bus and Liz exchanged winks.

In Valerie's bedroom, Seymour said, "You really are a magical woman." He was slightly freaked out, but it did not make him like the woman any less. He found her even more fascinating, really.

"Indeed I am," Valerie smiled. She had been turned the opposite direction, unbuttoning the front of her dress a little ways—enough for her cleavage to show. She unpinned her hair and turned to face Seymour with as seductive a smile as she could manage.

Seymour felt his face get very warm. "V-V-Valerie. You are…Wow," was all he could manage to utter, walking over and instinctively putting his hands on the woman's sides.

Ms. Frizzle giggled again. "Why, thank you. I bet you are quite 'wow' yourself." She put a hand on the principal's tie, loosening it.

Seymour felt his heart pounding and something in his head made him push her away gently. He turned the other way before saying, "No."

"No?"

"I can't do this."

"I see," Valerie said quietly, sitting on the edge of her bed. "You still love her."

"No, no, that is not it!" Seymour said instantly in defense. He sat beside her. "I just don't think I'm ready for that yet. I'm sorry," he added, kissing the top of the woman's head.

"It's alright, Seymour. It was probably too early anyway. I was just getting carried away. It's been years for me…" she blushed a little, looking away.

Seymour looked at the woman sympathetically before touching her chin and giving her a kiss. He leaned her back against the bed, with nothing more intended than a kiss, but it was enough to make her heart race.

* * *

Over the next week, Bart could tell that his teacher was in terrible shape, and he felt sorry for her. He wished there was something he could do without making it looked like he cared. Suddenly, in the middle of class, he got an idea. It was cunning, daring, and against the rules—nothing unusual for him. He would have a little fun doing it, while hopefully helping out his teacher, and she would never know it was him. It was perfect!

As soon as it was time for recess, Bart snuck when nobody was watching and pulled the fire alarm. He hid as the teachers frantically started rounding up the students. Just as he had hoped, in the panic, Skinner did not bother locking his office door. He found it amusing, watching everyone run around like idiots, thinking there was a fire, but then he knew he had to act fast.

He ran into Seymour's office and searched quickly for Superintendent Chalmers 's number and dialed it. He cleared his throat and hoped he could make his voice deep enough to be believable.

"Hello?"

"Superintendent Chalmers, this is Principal Skinner," Bart said.

"What is it, Seymour?" Chalmers answered, a little annoyed, wondering why Seymour could possibly need to call him.

"I need to talk to you about something very important. Could you possibly meet me in my office at lunchtime?"

"This is highly irregular, Seymour…And what is up with your voice?"

"I, uh, have a cold," Bart thought of something quickly and hoped it would suffice.

"Hm, well, it better not be catching. I'll be there at noon. This better be important, Seymour." The superintendent hung up and Bart sighed a breath of relief and ran quickly out of the principal's office and hid behind a locker until he saw everyone back enjoying recess. He made sure to sneak outside and blend in with the others so he did not look suspicious.

Everyone by now knew that Ms. Frizzle ate lunch with Principal Skinner, and any idiot would know that more than just lunch eating went on in there. Bart figured that if the superintendent had gotten angry with Seymour and Edna being together, if he saw Valerie and Seymour together, he would be sure to get angry again. Maybe he would make them break up or something. At the least, maybe they would tone it down some so it would not hurt Edna as badly. And if it did nothing, well, he did not lose anything.

It was nearly noon, and Valerie was in Seymour's office. They had finished eating and were talking. "Tell me something more about yourself, Valerie," Seymour smiled, his chin in his hands.

Valerie chuckled. "Let's see…Ooh, I was in a band when I was younger. It was called The Frizzlettes. There were four of us all together and we even did tours." She sighed with a smile. "Those were the good old days. It was before I became a teacher, of course. My music days are some fond memories for me, though."

"You can do anything, can't you? I bet you have a marvelous singing voice."

Ms. Frizzle blushed. "You probably have a nice set of pipes yourself, Seymour."

"Well, I _was_ in a barbershop quartet a few years ago," he said, a little proud to have something to say for himself.

"Really? I love barbershop quartets!" She seemed simply delighted, and seeing her face light up made Seymour happy.

"Well, my dear," Seymour walked over to one of his cabinets and pulled out a CD album. "Here, I have a few copies still. We only made one CD, but I will always cherish it. I want you to have this." He handed it to her with a smile.

Ms. Frizzle grinned and took the CD. "How thoughtful! I can't wait to listen, Seymour."

In the light of the moment, Seymour picked Ms. Frizzle up and set her on his desk, coming in close to kiss her. Valerie got that butterfly feeling in her stomach again, loving these moments so much.

It was noon now, and Bart knew the superintendent would be showing up any minute. He chuckled darkly to himself. "Let the fun begin." He thought maybe his teacher would like to see Skinner get busted so he decided to make sure she did see. Conveniently, Ms. Krabappel had lunch duty that day so it would make this so much easier on Bart.

He jumped up from his seat and onto the lunch table and started wiggling his behind, making the other students laugh. "Bart Simpson, get down from there!" his teacher shouted.

"Only if you can catch me!" the boy started running through the halls, laughing. As he suspected, the teacher started running after him. He had a little fun with this, saying things like, "What's the matter? Can't keep up?" and "Are you that out of shape, woman?" making the teacher scowl and run faster. "Don't hurt yourself there, Edna," Bart laughed, looking back and making faces at her.

"Bart, I am your teacher. You don't call me by my first name!"

"Ouch, that hurt. I thought we were closer than that!" The boy stopped right in front of the principal's office, in quite a timely manner for Superintendent Chalmers had just arrived at the door. "Why, Superintendent Chalmers, what a surprise!" Bart said.

The man grunted and told the boy to get out of the halls. "Yes, sir!" Bart saluted him and walked in the direction of lunch, but really just hid behind some lockers. He wanted to at least hear the commotion that was about to happen.

Chalmers looked at Edna, wondering what she had been doing running through the halls like an idiot, but he dismissed that and opened the door to the principal's office. Upon opening the door, both he and Ms. Krabappel found Seymour and Valerie in the same spot they had been moments ago, engaged in the same activity. Only now, Seymour had Valerie lying back against the desk, and his hand was halfway up her skirt.

Edna couldn't help but stare at this scene. She had no words; her throat had completely closed up and she felt her eyes sting. "Seymour!" Chalmers shouted. "What is the meaning of this? You call me to a meeting at noon sharp and here it is noon, and you are doing _this_…with another one of your teachers?!" The man was far from amused.

Ms. Frizzle blushed a dark shade of red and sat up instantly, smoothing her dress. Skinner started stammering, trying to explain, but Chalmers butted in. "If you do not tone down your shenanigans, one of you is going, and I'm not one to be mean to _ladies_!"

Edna let out a short, "Ha!" but it came out quite weak. She wanted to be amused and mock Seymour for this, but the scene was killing her too much.

The superintendent turned to Ms. Frizzle. "What is your name, anyway?"

"My name is Valerie Frizzle, sir. I am the new third grade teacher." Ms. Frizzle was still blushing, but stayed calm.

"Pleased to meet you…I guess," Chalmers said slowly, turning back to Seymour. "I'm letting you off with a warning because you obviously weren't the one who called me this morning. You might be a dunce, but you're not _that_ stupid."

"I wonder who it was," Ms. Frizzle asked.

Bart started to slowly tip toe away from the lockers he had been hiding behind, but Ms. Krabappel caught him. "Bart Simpson! You did this, didn't you?"

"Um, maybe," he said.

"Detention for a month!"

"What? I did this for you, man! I thought you were jealous of them so getting Skinner in trouble would be of help to you, right?"

Edna seemed slightly touched by Bart's attempt to help, but in the end, he hadn't helped anything. She walked over to Bart and said in a low voice, "Your plan might have worked out better if you hadn't lured me over here to see _that!_" she spat.

"I thought you'd enjoy seeing him get in trouble," Bart looked down, honestly feeling sorry for what he did by now.

"Bart, you don't understand anything. Go back to lunch before I assign another month's worth of detention."

"Yes, ma'am!" Bart ran back to the lunchroom as quickly as he could.

_God, I feel sick now,_ Edna thought to herself, making her way to the restroom sadly.

* * *

The next morning, Edna had decided for sure in her mind that she was going to quit her job. She could not stand to be around those two any longer. It was one thing being ignored by Seymour, but having to be around him and _her_ just was making her life more miserable than it already was. She had her letter of resignation ready so it would be official, and she planned to march right into the principal's office early.

However, Edna's choice of dress made her realize she may have been doing this more out of spite than actual interest in quitting. All in all, she did not want to quit her job because then she would be unemployed, but getting away from everyone sounded like a good idea at the moment. The school teacher had gone through many outfits in her closet until finding a very short, tight, revealing black dress. She even applied lipstick to her lips, and she only did that when going out on dates. She made a few poses in the mirror, admiring her own chest and behind before sighing. _Okay, Edna, that's enough. You are merely trying to piss him off, not win him back. He will know what he is missing and what he gave away, and that will be that._

Valerie was chatting with the principal in his office that morning. "I listened to your CD last night, Seymour. It was absolutely wonderful. I thought you would like to hear _my_ music, too," she smiled, handing him a CD album of The Frizzlettes. "It's quite different than your music," she giggled, "but I think you might like it."

"If it has your sweet voice on it, then I am sure I will love it," he kissed her cheek.

"Oh, Seymour," Ms. Frizzle giggled more. "Oh," she looked at the clock. "I better get to my classroom."

Little did Seymour know, he was getting an unexpected visitor, and she was headed towards his office at that very moment. Edna concealed her revealing clothes with a jacket so not to create suspicion. She unfortunately bumped into Ms. Frizzle on her way there, as she was coming out of Skinner's office as Edna was going in. "Oh, hello, Edna," she smiled cheerfully. "I'm really sorry that you had to see what you saw yesterday."

"Not a problem, Ms. Frizzle," Edna said simply before barging in on Seymour and shutting the door behind her.

"E-Edna?" Seymour felt himself blush a little, but cleared his throat, hoping to cover up anything. But he could not hide any blushing when she pulled off her jacket, revealing the dress she was wearing. "What is the meaning of this? Those clothes are not appropriate for work."

"Well, that's just fine because I am no longer one of your workers," she slid her resignation letter in front of him and took a perch on the edge of his desk, making sure he saw her cleavage.

"What? You're leaving? Why?" Skinner looked up, but instantly looked away, trying to avoid staring at her cleavage.

"Are you stupid, Seymour?" she grabbed his chin and forced him to face her. When she saw he still had a hard time keeping eye contact, she said, "What's the matter? You can't look at me? I see you have no problem looking at this photo on your desk." She picked up the framed picture of the two of them and scowled at it. She slammed it against his desk, breaking the frame. She folded up the photo and slipped it into her bra. "Now you don't have to look at that, either."

Seymour looked horrified. "Edna, what is the meaning of this? What is wrong?"

"Once again, Seymour, are you stupid? Think about all I have been through and what you have done to me over the past few months." When the principal just blinked, Edna sighed harshly. "I told you that my life was one huge train wreck, and you saved me from it…for a while. Then you pushed me back in front of the train, and now you are running me over day after day with a damned magic school bus!"

Seymour felt his heart race with fright. He felt really bad for her suddenly. Why hadn't he felt that bad before? Perhaps he had pushed all the feelings deep down inside him. "I-I'm so-"

"Yes, I know, you're sorry, Seymour," Edna interrupted him. "But after ignoring me for months and then running off with some new teacher—who, I would like to add, is a little young for you—sorry just isn't good enough." She felt tears about to come again so she decided to bring this to a close. She looked him straight in the eye and said, "Goodbye, Seymour Skinner. I will see you in Hell," she wheeled around and slipped her jacket back on, making quite sure to sway her hips as she walked out of his office.

Seymour's head fell in his hands, once she was out of his office. "What have I done?" he said quietly to himself.

Edna leaned against his office door after shutting it and feeling a bit weak at her knees, whispered, "What did I just do?"

.

Upon hearing that Ms. Krabappel had resigned, Bart instantly felt like it was his fault. That afternoon at home, he went to his mother and said, "Mom, I did something really stupid."

"What did you do this time?" Marge asked as she was putting dinner in the oven. She then turned to her son.

"Well, I kind of…Sort of…made my teacher quit her job."

"What?" Bart explained to his mother what had been going on and she sighed. "Bart, I am going to be honest with you. You shouldn't have meddled, but I don't think that if you hadn't done what you did, it would have changed the outcome at all. Poor, poor woman…" she added sympathetically.

"But I feel really bad, Mom. Is there anything I can do?"

Bart looked truly upset about this; it was touching, in a way. "Hm, well after dinner why don't you go to her apartment and apologize to her? You could take her some flowers! Women like flowers!" She smiled.

"I tried to apologize earlier, and she just yelled at me."

"I'm sure she will appreciate it all the same, Bart."

"Okay," the boy nodded. He hoped his mother was right. He just wanted to help out in some way, but he doubted anything he said would get his teacher's job back, but he could at least apologize again.

.

Meanwhile, at Edna's apartment, she had taken a glass of wine with her to the bath. She did not know what she was going to do now. First she loses Seymour, and then she quits her job. What did she honestly have to live for now? Once upon a time, her dream had been to teach, and even if it wasn't nearly as satisfying as she had hoped it to be, she had still been living out that dream. She now had given up her own dream. It was not quite as crushing as getting fired from your dream job; it was more of a numb feeling.

_Well, numb is better than pain!_ She thought to herself, and then sighed, feeling the pain in her heart. _Still haven't left, have you?_ She gulped down the rest of her wine and set the glass aside. She could not decide who was stupider—Seymour or herself. Had she really just given up her stable job because of jealousy? No—it was much more than jealousy. This would relieve the pain…wouldn't it? _God, just kill me now_. She slid down completely under the water of the bathtub, forcing herself to stay as long as she could, but eventually ran out of breath and came back up, breathing heavily.

She then drew her knees up to her chest and started to cry.

That evening, there was a knock at her door. She was lying on her couch, mindlessly watching television. Around her were wine bottles from days before, trash that had missed the bin, and laundry strung here and there. _Eh, what does it even matter? _ she thought to herself hopelessly. "It's open!" she said. Upon seeing Bart walk in, she blinked. "Bart, what are you doing here?"

Bart sheepishly walked forward and held out the flowers he had bought her with his allowance. "These are for you, ma'am. I'm sorry about earlier."

Edna was not convinced. "Marge asked you to come here, didn't she?" she asked, as she took the flowers from the boy.

"Well, yes," Bart admitted, "but only because I told her I felt bad about earlier and wanted to do something to help."

Edna smiled, turning off the television, and sat up. She patted a place for Bart beside her. Bart sat and looked around at her apartment. "Your place is dirty," he said without thinking.

"I know," the woman sighed. "It's not usually this messy. You understand though, right?"

"Yeah," Bart looked down. "Look, I'm really sorry about earlier. I promise I only did it 'cause I thought it would help you. I didn't want you to quit your job!"

"Oh, Bart, I would have quit anyway. It wasn't your fault. I forgive you."

"Thanks. Too bad it can't relieve my detention." Edna simply laughed at the boy. Upon realizing his teacher was in a skimpy nightgown, he said, "Damn, Edna!" as he stole a peek at her cleavage and laughed mischievously.

"Bart!" Edna exclaimed, pulling her robe closed.

After the boy finished laughing, he said sincerely, "You know, Skinner's a real idiot to pass you up."

"Yes, he is an idiot," Edna agreed. She felt comfortable saying that now that he was not her boss. "But thank you, Bart, for all of this. You may be a little devil, but you can be a sweet kid."

Bart jumped off the couch. "No problem, Edna. If you need anything, just holler and I'll come to your rescue. I'll be your knight riding in on my skateboard," he laughed. "Just don't tell anyone, okay? I'll be the laughing stock forever."

Edna chuckled. "I won't tell anyone."

"We're gonna miss you, Ms. Krabappel," he said honestly before walking out of her apartment, only to hear Nelson Muntz's taunting "Ha ha!" "Damn it!" Bart exclaimed. That kid never failed to show up and make a laughing stock of him.


	5. Chapter 5

Ms. Frizzle was to teach both the third and fourth graders until they could hire a new teacher. She did not have a field trip up her sleeve that day so they just stayed in the classroom and had a normal day. However, Bart would not keep quiet. "How's it feel to know you're the reason Ms. Krabappel quit her job?"

"Bart!" Lisa exclaimed. "It's not her fault. It's Principal Skinner's fault!"

"I don't think it is either of our faults," Valerie turned to the children. "I feel bad about it, I promise you, but there is nothing I can do about it. Now could we please get back to learning science? Leave the adult matters to the adults please," she smiled politely and turned back to the chalkboard.

"Bart, what's the matter with you? Why are you going soft on Krabappel?" a student asked. "You were being mean to her in class just the other day."

"That was before stuff happened, duh," Bart replied.

"He's just a teacher's pet!" Nelson said. "I saw her at Ms. Krabappel's apartment yesterday!"

The class giggled. "Teacher's pet! Teacher's pet!" some students chanted, teasingly.

"That is enough, students," Ms. Frizzle said, slightly raising her voice.

Bart suddenly jumped on top of his desk, facing his classmates. "Hey, I know Ms. Krabappel could be crabby, but she's been through a lot, okay? She may not seem like it, but I think she does care about us kids so we should care about her!"

"I agree with you, Bart!" Martin was the first to speak. Others joined in and at least nodded in agreement.

"Yeah!" Milhouse shouted and got up on his desk, wobbling and nearly falling back, but Bart steadied him. "I like Ms. Krabappel, too! She and Principal Skinner were pretty cool together, weren't they?"

"Of course they were!" Bart replied. "And didn't you see how much happier she was? I like the slightly crabby Krabappel much better than the very crabby Krabappel, don't you guys?!"

"Yeah!" The students all agreed.

Ms. Frizzle was getting annoyed. She was trying to teach a class. "Bart Simpson, Milhouse Van Houten, sit down!"

"Make me," Bart smirked, arms crossed, though Milhouse instantly obeyed.

"Bart, I'm sorry to have to say this, but I'm going to have to assign you two weeks detention."

"Eat my shorts, lady," Bart turned around and wiggled his behind.

"One month's worth!" Ms. Frizzle corrected. "Now sit your little behind down, mister!" She came over and forced Bart into his seat. She sighed and sat down at her desk, filling out the detention slip. "I don't think I've ever assigned detention to a student before," she muttered.

"Welcome to Springfield Elementary, Ms. Frizzle," Bart grinned.

* * *

Valerie had noticed that ever since Edna quit, Seymour seemed a bit sad. She was starting to think she might have been right about his feelings all along, but she just wanted him to be happy. He was a kind man, and he deserved happiness. She wanted to cheer him up by taking him somewhere special.

"Where are we going, Valerie?" Seymour asked as they climbed aboard her school bus. He was a bit nervous on that contraption, but he trusted her.

"You'll see!" She giggled.

"Why can't we drive a normal car?"

"We can't get to this place by car, dear," she smiled. "Seatbelts everyone!" she said by habit and then blushed. "I mean, put your seatbelt on, Seymour."

Seymour obeyed, but seemed a bit nervous.

"Oh, don't be nervous, dear. There's nothing to be afraid of, right, Liz?" She smiled to her lizard, who hopped into Seymour's lap and patted his hand. Seymour chuckled and patted the lizard's head. "Here we go!" the woman exclaimed excitedly, pressing the button to transform the bus into a rocket ship. Seymour's eyes looked like they might pop out of their sockets. Valerie saw his reaction and laughed happily. "Ever seen Mars, Seymour?"

"Not up close, no," the man felt like he was sweating all over. How was this even happening? School buses couldn't normally do such a thing.

"Well soon you'll be able to see all nine planets up close, as well as many beautiful stars. Ah, what a view it will be, Seymour!"

"You are a wonder of a woman, Valerie." He was touched that she would take him somewhere so interesting.

.

Edna had just woken up, finding she had passed out on the floor. She clutched her head, looking around, seeing the empty bottles with a groan. After standing up, she felt sick to her stomach and ran to the bathroom.

After brushing her teeth, she looked in the mirror, seeing the bags under her eyes had only gotten worse and her hair was a mess. She ran her fingers through it a little, but gave up shortly after with a shrug. She had been in the same night gown for days now, but honestly at the moment she did not care.

Edna made it as far as her bedroom before just collapsing face down on her bed, causing her cat to jump off the bed, startled. The woman drug herself closer to the top of her bed, grabbing her pillow and curling up with it, holding it tightly. _Well, sorrow, I am home. _It was sad that she was more used to depression than happiness, but it was true. _How many boyfriends have you had, Edna?_ She laughed to herself. _Too many to count and none lasted more than a few weeks, if that. The only one who meant it when he said 'I love you' was Seymour. The others were either blind or drunk. The only man I ever truly loved was him, and now he doesn't love me…He is better off. Nobody deserves to have someone like me. I'm a wreck, and I guess I always will be._

_I guess this is how I will always be, a never ending circle. Drinking to numb the pain, smoking because I'm bored…_

And now she was living off of unemployment checks. Perhaps she would find a new job, but would it bring her happiness? She was starting to think after all of these years, there was no such thing as real happiness. If you get it at all, it just gets swiped from you. What was the point?

_This is how it's going to be…Unless…_

The woman sat up in bed and went over to her closet, pulling out a small box from the top shelf. She brought the box over to her bed and set it down. She then opened it, carefully picking up the contents. Her breathing unsteady, she unwrapped it slowly, revealing a handgun.

.

Meanwhile, Seymour was seeing the wonders of the solar system, and he could hardly believe his eyes. "This is so much more fascinating than seeing them on poster board or in a textbook," he said.

Ms. Frizzle laughed. "Of course it is! Aren't the stars much more beautiful up close, too?"

"Indeed they are," he smiled, but then frowned, looking out the window, his mind preoccupied.

"Seymour…" Valerie said softly, looking at him with concern. "Liz, would you man the bus while I talk to Seymour?" Liz saluted to the teacher and hopped into the driver's seat.

"You trust that lizard driving the bus?"

"I trust that lizard with my life," Valerie said, a little offended he would ask such a question, but then she sat beside the man, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Something is on your mind, and I am pretty positive it's not the stars."

"Don't get me wrong, Valerie. I am so happy and thankful that you brought me here," he took one of her hands in his. "You are magnificent. I just can't help thinking about…"

"Edna quitting?"

Seymour blushed. "I just feel so bad, you know?"

"Seymour, it's more than just simply feeling bad that she quit. You love her. You need to admit that to yourself."

"But I love you…"

"When we started dating, I never believed that we would be together forever, and I think you knew that, too. I just wanted to feel cared for, I wanted to have that extra happiness…But you are not truly happy with me, even if you can't see it. And there is one woman who is very miserable right now, and I don't want to stand in the way of yours or her happiness. Seymour, you need to at least talk to her."

"But…" Seymour tried to protest.

"I know it is scary, dear, but it needs to be done. I don't know why you broke up, but it is obvious you both belong together. Why not give it a try? I want you to be happy." She squeezed his hand.

Seymour nodded. He knew much more than Ms. Frizzle did about Edna's misery, and he suddenly felt extremely guilty leaving her. "And if it doesn't work out?"

"I will be right here waiting," Valerie smiled.

"And if it _does_ work out?" He looked her in the eyes.

"Then I will be the first to congratulate you."

"You really _are_ one hell of a woman, Ms. Frizzle," he kissed her cheek, but she pulled him in closer for a kiss on the lips, and he did not object to this.

"Now, let's get you back to Springfield. You have something important to do."

"You think I should see her tonight?"

"I know you should. You know what I always say, don't put off 'til tomorrow what you can do today!" Valerie stood up and walked back to the driver's seat to take over again.

"I thought you always say 'take chances, make mistakes, and get messy'?" Seymour chuckled as they started back home.

"That, too!" She turned back with a smile.

.

Edna was standing in front of her full length mirror in her bedroom, the gun held in her trembling hands. She stared emotionless at her reflection, her ex husband's voice returning once again to her head with words of disgust. _Those bags under your eyes are hideous. Have you put on weight? You have lost the one you love. You have lost your dream job. You have nothing. You are nothing. Nobody loves you, and it is all your fault. Everything is your own fault. _

She slowly raised the gun to her head, cringing with fright. "Please, God, give me a reason to live,"she whispered. She felt herself get weak in the knees and fell to the ground, hitting her head on the foot of her bed on the way down.

Seymour knocked at Edna's door nervously. He had no idea what to expect or even what to say, but he knew Valerie was right. This was necessary. The door was unlocked so he let himself in. "Edna?" he called out. When he heard no answer, he started to look for her. Seeing all the empty bottles lying around worried him a lot. He knew she drank, and had had a big drinking problem before, but this really scared him. Where was she? Was she okay?

When he found her lying on her bedroom floor with the gun beside her, he started freaking out. He started panicking and knelt down beside her, feeling tears come to his eyes. Then he realized there was no blood anywhere so she could not be dead. "Oh, Edna, this is all my fault…" He felt the tears falling down his face, and he did not even bother wiping them. He put the gun back safely in its box and placed Edna gently on her bed. He sat beside her, brushing his hand against her cheek. He bent over and kissed her forehead gently.

In a few minutes, she stirred and instantly became confused. "Seymour?"

"Edna, are you okay?"

"Did God answer my prayers?" she said more to herself than him.

"If you prayed for me to come, then here I am."

"I prayed for a reason to live," she whispered.

His eyes widened a little, but understood. He helped her sit up and pulled her close to him in a hug. "I am an idiot," he said.

"Yes, yes you are," Edna replied, but hugged him back tightly.

"But I'm your idiot," he whispered with a little chuckle. "If you want me, that is."

"Please," she whispered back.

He nodded, finding her lips with his own, giving her a soft, full kiss. She felt tears falling. Could it be true? Would she be able to be happy again? And would she stay happy?

"I'm not going to leave you again," he promised after pulling away.

"What about Ms. Frizzle?"

"She is the one who wanted me to make amends with you. She seemed to be able to understand my feelings even before I could understand them myself," he chuckled a little. "She's a wonder, but she's no you, Edna," he kissed her neck softly, making Edna squeak and hug Seymour tightly again.

* * *

The next Monday at school, Bart rounded up the majority of the school and said, "Everybody, feast your eyes on _this_! Behold—" he said, swinging open the janitor's closet door, "—Edna and Seymour are back together again!"

Many cheered. Ms. Hoover let out a breath of relief. She had hated seeing Edna in such terrible shape before.

"Bart Simpson! Two weeks of detention!" Edna said, untangling herself from Seymour, embarrassed.

"And I guess she's our teacher again, too!" Two months and two weeks' worth of detention in just a few days was a record for Bart, but worth it for sure, in this case.

More cheers from the students were heard. Ms. Krabappel was touched that her students were cheering for her like this.

"Ms. Frizzle, what about you?" Lisa asked. "Are you okay with this?"

"Seymour is happy so I am happy. My greatest joy is in teaching, while Ms. Krabappel needed love to be happy. Everyone wins in the end."

"But you lost _your_ love!"

"I never needed it," Valerie said simply. "It was a nice addition, but not necessary for me to survive. I thrive off of teaching you young children."

"Wow! You're really something, Ms. Frizzle!"

"Well, thank you, Lisa," the teacher smiled. "Enough of this attraction, students," she laughed. "To the bus! I believe it's time for us to enjoy a nice _field trip!_" she sung out.

"Yay!" the students cheered.

"Aw, man. No fair, dude!" Bart complained, but upon hearing Edna sigh, he turned and grinned widely. "Glad to have you back, Ms. K!"

"Eh, just get to the classroom before you're late, and I have to assign you more detention."

"Yes, ma'am!" Bart ran off into the classroom.

Edna laughed a little, and Seymour smiled at her. "It's nice to see you smiling again."

"It's you who puts this smile on my face."

"I know, and I intend to keep it there for as long as I live." He pecked her lips gently before heading to his office.

As he sat in his chair, he looked out the window, watching the third graders board the magic school bus. "A fine addition to this school, indeed," he nodded to himself, watching Ms. Frizzle.


End file.
